This invention relates to a device for adjusting the length of a rod. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for adjusting the length of a rod of the type used for transmission of motion as when the motion of one member is to be transmitted to another member.
When the lock mechanism such as in an automobile door is actuated by the operation of a release lever, for example, a rod is generally used as an intermediary element for conveying the motion. When automobile doors are manufactured on a mass-production basis, however, there is encountered a problem that the distance between the release lever and the lock mechanism is not necessarily constant among the individual doors. The manufactural error which occurs between said two mechanical members, therefore, must be coped with by the measure of adjusting the length of individual rods while the members are being joined in the assembly line.
The device heretofore used for the adjustment of the length of a rod comprises two major parts, viz. a cylindrical body which has a nut embedded in the interior thereof and a plurality of raised strips formed in the longituidnal direction on the peripheral surface thereof and a rotation arrester which has an opening formed at the center thereof for passage of the flattened portion of a rod and pawls formed on the outer edge thereof in such way that, when bent, they come into engagement with the raised strips on the peripheral surface of said cylindrical body. With this device, the required adjustment of the length of a rod is effected by inserting the rotation arrester around the flattened portion of the rod in advance, then inserting the rod into the cylinder body, adjusting the length of the rod to suit the occasion by rotating the cylindrical body and pushing the pawls of the rotation arrester into tight, frozen engagement with the raised strips on the peripheral surface of the cylindrical body.
The device which effects the adjustment of the length of a rod by the operating principle just mentioned, however, consists of two parts and therefore proves to be expensive and entails a difficult work of assembly.
An intermediate object of the present invention is to provide a device formed of a plastic material in a unitary structure such that the length of the rod can freely be adjusted and the rod thus adjusted to the desired length can then be immobilized by a simple operation.